Fixture for drilling bowling balls



Oct. 7, 1947.

H. HOPKI NS FIXTURE FOR DRILLING BOWLING BALLS Filed Feb. 2, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGZ.

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FIXTURE FOR DRILLING BOWLING BALLS Filed Feb. 2, 1945, 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.3.

INVENTOR.

HENRY HOPKINS ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 7, 1947 UNITED l STATES PATENT OFFICE FIXTURE FOR DRILLING BOWLING BALLS Henry Hopkins, Detroit, Mich.

Application February 2, 1945, Serial No. 575,917

2 Claims.

1 The present invention relates to the drilling of bowling balls and specifically to means by the use of which the finger holes may be accurately located and drilled.

Among the objects of the invention is a fixture for application to an ordinary drill press by means of which the ball may be accurately located and held for drilling.

Another object is a fixture which is simple in construction and easy to manipulate to obtain fine adjustments.

Still other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to the following description and the accompanying drawings in which Fig. l is a plan view of the fixture.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are partly sectional views of a ball illustrating the adjustment for drilling.

Figs. 6 and 7 are elevational views of drilled balls showing respectively one and two-finger balls.

As indicated in the drawing, the fixture consists of suitable base It, preferably of metallic bars welded together to produce a rectangular flat frame and having its opposite sides accurately parallel and rectangular. Upon the base If! is mounted a wooden frame or seat member ll provided with a circular ball seat l2 of such dimensions as to allow the ball l3 to be firmly seated therein. After the ball i3 is seated, it is held in position by a second Wooden frame l4 also provided with a circular opening of sufficient size to fit well down upon the ball so as to leave a considerable portion projecting above.

The frame i4 is preferably held by a plurality of hinged lag screws i5 having thumb nuts 16 to permit easy and quick application or removal. This ball holding fixture is adapted to be placed upon the table 28 of a conventional drill press and is located thereon by means of a plate 2! fixed near one edge of the table (preferably the front edge) and two side plates 22 spaced sufficiently to allow the frame It room to move a short distance in either direction from a centered position. These plates 22 are preferably held in place by tapered pins 23.

The plate 2!, at the front of the table 28, is provided with an upwardly extending fiat post or plate 24 which has hinged to it a locating finger or indicator 25 so arranged that one face 25A is in alignment with or in a plane with the axis of the drill press spindle, which plane,- is at right angles to the inner edge of plate 2L,

With this arrangement, the center line of a ball to be drilled may be accurately aligned with the face 25A and the point or axis of a drill or of a, suitable pointed member inserted in the drill chuck in place of the drill. In Fig. 2 there is shown such a pointed member at 26.

With the center line of the ball thus aligned with the drill or point, its forward or back location may be determined by the use of shims such as the one at 21 between the plate 2| and the frame I 9, while its lateral position will be determined by the use of shims such as those at 28 between the plates 22 and the sides of frame l0.

Figures 4 to 7 illustrate diagrammatically the use of the present invention.

In Fig. 4 a hole A is indicated as having been drilled after replacing the shim 21 with a shim of a thickness to move the center point C of the ball forward of the drill, The hole B was previously drilled with the centerpoint Cl back of the drill, both holes A and B being on the center line as indicated in Fig. 6.

Figs. 5 and 6, the hole D is on the center line but the holes E are laterally displaced therefrom by substituting suitable shims for those at 28.

Now having described the invention and the preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is to be limited, not to the specific details herein set forth, but only by the scope of the claims which follow.

I claim:

1. In combination with the table of a drill press a rectangular frame seated on said table and provided with a centrally located ball seat, a locating plate at the front of said table adapted to position said frame in a forward and back direction, said plate having its inner edge at right angles to the axis of the spindle of said press, locating plates at the sides of said table and adapted to position said frame in a lateral direction, and an arm hinged to the first locating plate and movable in that plane including the axis of the press spindle and perpendicular to said first plate.

2. In combination with the table of a drill press a rectangular frame seated on said table and provided with a centrally located ball seat, a locating plate at the front of said table adapted to position said frame in a forward and back direction, said plate having its inner edge at right angles to the axis of the spindle of said press, locating plates at the sides of said table and adapted to position said frame in a lateral direction, and an arm hinged to the first lo at Plate 3 and movable in that plane including the axis of UNITED STATES PATENTS the press spindle and, perpendicular to said first plate, one side face of said arm being plane and g gg ffig; Au i urate alignment with said axis. ""V'"' m 6 2,214,663 Dewey Sept. 10, 1940 2,269,946 Lange Jan, 13, 1942 7 HENRY HOPKINS 2,373,927 Turner Apr. 17, 1945 REFERENCES CITED 2,283,469 Shepard May 19, 1942 The following references are-9f record in the 2 OTHER REFERENCES 7 file of this patent: Amenioam.MachinishfiugzA,199%,page1040. 

